EBay Wars
by insaneantics21
Summary: Rachel bids against someone on a Barbra Streisand doll.


**Author's Note:** Ms. Michele had a very exciting day with being tweeted by Barbra and all. And then I had a conversation with Ashley (ashleydavies at Tumblr) about what would happen if Rachel was the one getting the doll and how she would acquire it. So of course, I had to fic it.

* * *

><p>Rachel Berry returned to her laptop with her seventh cup of coffee of the night and watched the numbers tick down on the E-Bay bid she was currently watching as if her life depended on it. There was one other bidder on this particular item and Rachel had been battling with for the last few hours. The item? A never-opened Barbra Streisand doll in mint condition...signed by the woman herself. Of course Rachel had checked and double checked for a certificate of authenticity and that the signature matched others. Once it was confirmed that this was the real deal, the war was on. StarsofGold was in a fight to the death with StreisandFan93 and the stakes were high.<p>

The auction ended at exactly 3:00am and Rachel was beyond determined. Her eyes stayed focused on her laptop, constantly refreshing, waiting for the opportune moment. She wasn't going to lose. There were twenty-five minutes left before she had the prize in her grasp.

XXXXXXXXXX

She wasn't sure how it happened, but Rachel woke two hours late for school the next morning with her face pressed against the keys on her laptop. One quick glance at the clock and she panicked, rushing to get ready for school. Arriving right in the middle of glee, Rachel skidded to a halt in front of the door and quietly stepped in, her peers rolling their eyes. But Rachel could only smile.

"I apologize for my tardiness, Mr. Schue, but I overslept due to a very intense bidding war with StreisandFan93 on a rare and sentimentally valuable autographed Barbra Streisand doll. Of course, with my determination and copious E-Bay knowledge, I won, and the doll will be in my possession in six to ten business days at which time I will have a small gathering at my house in order for all of you to marvel at the magnificence of the Queen in doll form and as a celebration of Barbra as a whole. Expect invitations to be sent out within the week."

"Barbra Streisand was in Queen?"

Rachel furrowed her eyebrows as she looked up at Brittany, eyebrows raised and asking for an answer.

"Britt," Kurt sighed, "do you even know who Barbra Streisand is?"

"Totally. She was the president's wife."

"That was Barbara Bu-"

"Don't worry about it, Kurt," Rachel interjected. "Brittany, if you attend my party I can assure you that you will be exposed to the best of Barbra's career."

"We'll talk about this later, guys," Mr. Schuester said. "We've got to focus on getting a setlist together for Sectionals. Quinn!" Everyone turned to the door where a disheveled and tired looking Quinn Fabray had stumbled through the door. "Glad you could join us. Why don't you guys take your seats?"

Rachel nodded and quickly took her place next to Finn, her eyes never leaving Quinn as the blonde strode to her place.

"Sorry Mr. Schue," Quinn mumbled. "E-Bay bidding war. I didn't get to sleep until three."

"Whatever it was I hope it was worth missing half of rehearsal."

"Except that I lost," the blonde hissed.

"Better luck next time," Mr. Schuester said with a shrug. "Alright guys, Sectionals!"

The rest of whatever Mr. Schuester was saying didn't make its way at all into Rachel's brain. She stayed focused on Quinn and Quinn's words. Three in the morning. Just around the time that Rachel won the Streisand doll. There were millions of items on that website, though. Surely she and Quinn wouldn't bid on the same thing – especially not a Streisand doll. However, Rachel couldn't shake the feeling like Quinn might be harboring a secret love for Ms. Streisand.

XXXXXXXXXX

"I don't get it, why do you even care what Quinn was doing?" Finn growled. He tossed his wrench on the tray with the others, spilling lug nuts onto the floor. Rachel could only sigh and help him clean up.

"It just intrigues me that Quinn and I could share a deep love for Barbra Streisand. We could be good friends if not for the intense rivalry."

"Who cares, Rachel? She doesn't give a damn about us or about you so why should you care about her? She's just a selfish bitch. You know what?," he growled, dropping the bowl of lug nuts back on the tray. "I don't want you hanging around her except in glee club. I-I'm the man here and-and yeah. I don't want you around her."

"She's our teammate, Finn," Rachel said. "The past is the past, we can't change it. But I firmly believe in changing the future. And I believe I can be the decision maker in who my friends are. This isn't 1964."

"Fine," Finn hissed. "Do what you want."

Rachel could only shrug as Finn grabbed the bowl of lug nuts and went back to work, not even saying a goodbye.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Alright," Rachel said, pulling her laptop out of its case and onto her desk. "What have you been up to lately, Ms. Fabray?"

It had been a little bit of a shock when Quinn accepted Rachel's Facebook friend request. It had come in handy for scheduling extra glee rehearsals and whatnot. Now, though, it would be used for purposes more...stalkerish wasn't the word she wanted to use but it was the closest she could get.

"It's not stalking," Rachel mumbled. "It's public information."

It only took a few seconds to find the first clue, Quinn had "liked" the E-Bay Facebook page a few hours before StreisandFan93 started bidding on the doll. And Barbra Streisand only a few minutes before that. A few more clicks and Rachel found that StreisandFan93 (aka Quinn) had only created the account twenty-four hours before she started bidding.

The final clue came the next morning when Rachel saw a sheet of paper fall out of Quinn's bag. It was a printout of the page for the Streisand doll.

XXXXXXXXXX

It was no secret that Quinn had changed since Shelby showed up. Rachel saw the downcast eyes and heard the mumbled lyrics that the blonde usually projected. She shuffled through the dance moves and only rolled her eyes when someone tried to critique her. It was very, very clear that Quinn was still depressed which made Rachel determined to try to cheer her up. She smiled brightly when hand-delivering Quinn's invitation to the party to be held the next Saturday.

After going through every scenario she could think of over the next week, Rachel couldn't come up with anything that she thought might cheer the blonde up. The mission was forgotten, however, when a box arrived via UPS with the Barbra Streisand doll neatly packaged. It was perfect timing what with the party being held the next night. There hadn't been any official RSVPs but Rachel was optimistic.

Rachel thought later that maybe seeing that the doll was in good hands would be good for Quinn. She could invite the blonde over for supervised visitation if she wanted and perhaps their tumultuous past could eventually be forgotten. Finn would simply have to get over it.

XXXXXXXXXX

"There's still time," Rachel whispered quietly to herself.

The television had been set up with _Funny Girl_playing. There was punch set out and all of Rachel's Streisand memorabilia set out carefully. But no one was there. It was ten minutes until the end of the party and Rachel hadn't so much as had a text message. Not from anyone. Not even Finn.

Just as Rachel shut off the DVD player there was a clearing of the throat from the direction of the stairs. Who stood there was a shock but Rachel could only smile.

"Hello Quinn," she said softly.

"Rachel."

"Would you like some punch?"

Quinn shook her head. "Nice doll."

"Thank you...StreisandFan93."

Rachel smiled when Quinn chuckled and nodded.

"You figured it out?"

"It wasn't too difficult."

Quinn's eyes stayed focused on the box, Rachel noticed. And it was then when she made one of the...one of the easiest decisions she'd ever made. The brunette walked to the bar and picked up the box, taking one last look, before she extended her arm to hand it over.

"Rachel I can't..."

"I just want you to be happy, Quinn. I know what you've been through is rough and I've been trying to come up with any way to help. I-I thought this might. Might help."

Rachel took another step toward the blonde, box still in hand and outstretched. This time, Quinn took it in her hands and peered down. Instead of a smile, though, a few tears slipped out and hit the plastic packaging. Quinn was quick to wipe them away and make sure the box was dry and back to perfect condition.

"This means everything to you," Quinn choked.

"No," Rachel whispered. "You being happy means so much more."

"What about you?"

"What about me?"

"You need to be happy too, Rachel. Who even showed up tonight? Has Finn called?"

Rachel dropped her head. It was barely a second before Quinn's fingertips were under her chin and hazel eyes met chocolate brown.

"Do you know why I wanted this, Rachel?"

Rachel shook her head.

"It wasn't for me. Mr. Schue kind of yelled some sense in to me and I realized how much glee club did for me. How much _you_did for me. So I saw this ad for E-Bay on Facebook," she said, holding up the doll, "and this was on there."

"You were going to buy this for me?"

Quinn nodded. "Here," she said, pushing the box back into Rachel's hands. "Thank you. For everything."

Rachel wasn't sure what possessed her to do it but, doll forgotten and tossed into a chair, she reached up and pressed her lips against Quinn's and to her surprise, Quinn kissed back.

"That's the most amazing thing anyone's ever done for me," Rachel whispered, pulling out of the kiss. "And you are, by far, the most spectacular kisser I've ever had the pleasure of experiencing."

There wasn't a verbal response but Rachel figured that Quinn's tongue grazing her lips was a positive reaction. A few hours later they were in Rachel's bed, shoulders pressed together and fingers linked...while Rachel gave Quinn a tutorial on how to become an E-Bay master.


End file.
